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not their best, but still quite good

Back to the known is a little strange in terms of an album, the reason for this is that its only 5 tracks long. However its still a pretty good listen, and when It came out I was just happy to hear some more tracks from this great band.

1.yesterday- This song is reasonably good, it seems like they have taken a bit more of a happy approach to singing on this one instead of their usual depressed singing tones. Its quite a fast tune but not as fast as a lot of their other stuff, its an alright track but it doesn't stand out too much.

2.frogger- This just over one minute song is perhaps more of a trial song for them to see if some new sound effects work rather than a serious recording. Its not a great song, its more like just the chorus of one song rammed into a track.

3.bad religion- This song really takes over a new kind of style iv not heard them do before, it's a kind of stopping and starting song, which I don't think they have done in any other songs before this one. While the singing and drumming is still fast the song lacks the usual Bad Religion pace because of all this stopping and I'm afraid it just didn't work for me.

4.Along the way- This for me was the first song off this little EP that I actually got into a little, it doesn't have the best lyrics, and the guitar chords are perhaps a little basic but it has some nice little guitar solos running the way through it which I don't usually like but on this song it kind of works, especially when there running through the singing too.

5.New leaf- While I didn't really like the intro to this song once the singing kicks in, I think the arrangement works quite well, I think the lyrics are okay but it doesn't really stand out too well and its probably a song id forget in no time.

This little EP album was just meant to be a little thing Bad Religion released before there next full album to keep the fans entertained for the time being, and to say that its not going to contain there best songs then its not actually that bad. Of course none of these will be in their greatest hits, but it still kept me entertained for a little while and a few are quite good songs.

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Bad Religion's second E.P. (1984).

Prior to recording their genre-defining 'Suffer,' Bad Religion released this five-track E.P. by way of apologising for their awful previous album and proving that they're truly back in the punk rock field. Brett Gurewitz steps down from guitar duty here, replaced by the equally capable Greg Hetson, and instead oversees the production job, predating his establishment of Epitaph records as one of the primary punk rock record labels. Thus, this E.P. boasts superior sound quality to 'How Could Hell Be Any Worse?', bringing out all of the instruments including Jay Binkley's bass that was previously buried under the raw rubble of the guitar, now cleaned up but losing none of its power.

Greg Graffin really defines the Bad Religion vocal style in these songs, particularly the excellent 'Along the Way,' and the return of political lyrics is perfectly suited to the music, while also entertainingly creative. Graffin's theory that he's playing 'Frogger' with his life in the second song stands out as particularly fun and strange, before it's made into a chorus in its own right, and 'New Leaf' attempts to tackle the problem of survival in this harsh world by suggesting we all evolve: now there's an idea!

While 'Frogger' itself is a little too short to really stand out, despite its fun lyrics and strange sound effects, the other songs are substantial enough to make their presence felt, and don't all fall into the similar-sounding curse of much punk. 'Yesterday' is an energetic and upbeat vocal-led piece with a cool break in the centre for the bass, the band's title song 'Bad Religion' has a distracting stop-start structure that I don't particularly like but is at least pretty interesting, and the final two songs allow new boy Hetson time for some guitar solos. The harmonic vocal style of these latter two also helps cement Bad Religion's reputation as meaningful punk rock that nevertheless remains fun and upbeat foremost, paving the way for their magnum opus a few years later.